Welcome Elyzabeth and congratulations on your new BDSM, dark romance release, Open (Lust, Love and Darkness).
What would you like readers to take away from your story? Does it contain a message?
I think most of my books, be they fantasy, paranormal, or contemporary, contain some kind of message.
In the case of Open, there are little messages throughout the story but the big one, as the title suggests, (and other than the eroticization of the word), is that you have to open yourself up to new experiences, adventure, people and love. No one said it was easy though.
Where did you find your inspiration for the story? Was it a person, a current event, something you witnessed, or something else?
Author Doris O’ Connor was my inspiration for this story.
Back in January. I’d been working with a group of other authors on an anthology for her. Doris had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and we had decided to put together a collection of BDSM stories to help her and her family in any little way we could. While I was writing Entwined, my collaboration in the anthology, my muse started whispering about Marcus and a three book dark BDSM romance series which had to be written.
Doris’ star genre was BDSM and though she never got to see the publication of Passion, Pleasure, Pain, Anthology nor hear about Open (Lust, Love and Darkness), I like to think she would have enjoyed reading them.
She was always supportive of my writing and will always be an inspiration to me.
How much emphasis do you put on supporting characters to move the plot of your stories along? Have any of your supporting characters ever gotten their own story?
It really depends on the story. Some supporting characters have more weight than others and some have gotten their own story. For instance, in Max’s Desire, Killian’s action prompts a lot of what brings Max face to face with his mate.
Other secondary characters are mentioned in passing but hold a big weight within the story. That’s the case with Becky in Open. Book two of the Lust, Love and Darkness series is going to be about her.
What is your writing process? Are you a patnser or a plotter, or a little of both?
I used to be more of a pantster, but lately I’ve come to realize I’ve become a bit of both. I tend to come up with a single scene, then work from there by just writing. As a write, I outline where I think the book should go, but a lot of the time that all changes and I end up with a completely different idea of what I had originally thought.
In the case of Open I first came up with the series idea, and Marcus’ character. He was dominant, and he clearly knew what he wanted: Gabi, mouth open, lips around his… You get the picture. From there though, the way he went around to achieve things changed from want, want, want now, to a man who knew what he wanted but also had an insurmountable amount of patience and would wait for the woman of his dreams to be ready to give herself to him.
What do you do in your down time to feed your soul?
In my down time, I enjoy sleeping, reading, watching the occasional cartoon on TV (I’m a huge Disney fan), playing with my dogs and just hanging out with family and friends.
What’s next on your literary horizon?
I just signed a contract for Killian’s Hope, book 4 of my paranormal-fantasy series, Alpha Protectors, and I’m already working on book 2 of Lust, Love and Darkness.
Blurb:
One day she’d be his.
Almost a decade ago, Marcus Grimes worked as a bodyguard to a man who didn’t deserve the woman he’d had. When she finally left, Marcus vowed to eventually find her and make her his.
The time is now.
Marcus runs into Gabi at a BDSM club, indulging in a different partner every week but never really exploring beyond the mere superficial. She doesn’t remember him, and he convinces her to give him a chance.
All she has to do is open.
After leaving an abusive relationship, Gabi moved cities and reinvented herself. Now, she’s confident and capable of playing with any Dom she sees fit without compromising herself or her emotions.
Until she meets Marcus Grimes.
There is something familiar about him, which should have stopped her, but instead spurs her on, and before she realizes it, Marcus is not only opening her body to his exploration, he’s also delving into her heart.
However, when their mutual past comes to light and everything she’s fought for during the last eight years is jeopardized, will she close herself off again or will she give love an opportunity?
Excerpt:
Marcus sipped at his soda, wishing it were something stronger so his libido would subside. Who was he kidding? Looking at her would get him aroused regardless of the amounts of alcohol he drank.
She was perfect. Everything he’d ever fantasized about: luscious curves, ample bottom, tits which would fit his hands, and a mouth made for sucking and screaming out his name.
Gabi. Her last name was of no consequence. Neither was her first name. Years ago, he’d known her as Abby. What mattered was that when he made her his, he’d refer to her as “kitten”. He’d called her it once, by accident. The term had come naturally. Back then, she had been vulnerable, small, like an abandoned pet. Now, however, he stood in the presence of a different type of cat. She was graceful, strong, seductive.
Unfortunately, unlike cats, which tended to be more snobbish when it came to choosing an owner, Gabi played with just about everyone. She was a regular at the BDSM club where he’d found her. One night, he’d see her getting a spanking, the next, a caning, and another day, she was being whipped. There didn’t seem to be anything Gabi wouldn’t try, except sticking with the same partner. She had a different Dom every weekend, playing with them at a distance, never really giving in to the experience. He knew why, and he was determined to change it. Starting tonight.
Currently, she was tied to the Saint Andrew’s cross, and Master Eric was giving her a good flogging. The Dom played her like an instrument, knowing exactly where to hit to make her skin tingle but not bruise. Marcus scowled. When they played, he’d make sure to mark her so every time she sat down, she would remember him and how her body had yielded to her Dom’s touch.
Marcus downed the last of his drink and moved closer to the cross. It’d been close to eight years since he’d last seen her. Eight years. He sometimes thought they had been wasted years, but deep down, he knew they hadn’t. After what she’d gone through, she’d needed the time to heal and become the person she was now.
In all that time, he’d never stopped wanting her. He’d been incapable of erasing her from his mind even after he’d lost track of her whereabouts. And then, fate had thrown her in his path. He’d finally decided to join the BDSM community in the city, and he’d found her. Here of all places. In his city.
One look at her and he’d made up his mind. Gabi would be his. Permanently this time. He’d bided his time, investigating her present, trying to find out more about who she was today. Every weekend for the past month, he’d come to the club and watched her. He’d leave with a hard-on and a desperate craving to claim her.
Tonight would be different. Eric was almost done, each stroke of the flogger turning into a caress until it came to a full stop. Gabi shuddered and hung her head. Marcus stiffened. Was she okay? Eric seemed to think the same because he hurried forward and whispered in her ear. Gabi nodded. Eric chuckled. Giving her ass a light tap, he began to undo the restraints.
Marcus clenched his fists. Soon, he’d be the only one spanking Gabi’s behind. He waited patiently for them to finish. His heart hammered in his chest, and sweat gathered at his nape. He hadn’t been so on edge in years.
Finally, Gabi became free and turned around. Marcus’s breath caught. She wasn’t naked, but she didn’t need to be to get his dick hardening. He focused on her mouth. Wide with plump lips. How many times had he fantasized about having them around his dick? Fucking her mouth. Marcus swallowed a groan.
Soon.
Eric blocked his view, stepping in front of Gabi to give her a hug. She smiled politely, but there was no affection in her gaze. She was merely being civil. Marcus smirked. They wouldn’t end their sessions with a friendly pat. Finally, Eric left. Before Gabi could also leave, Marcus approached her. She saw him coming, her gaze narrowing and her lips parting into a coquettish smirk. He couldn’t wait to make it sincere.
“Gabi?”
“That’s me. What can I call you, handsome?”
“Marcus will do for now.”
She pouted, feigning disappointment.
“Shame, I thought you were a Dom.”
Marcus grinned. “I am.”
“And you don’t want me to call you Sir or Master? Do you prefer Daddy?” She ran her fingertips across his forearm making goosebumps sprout on his flesh. Marcus pulled away.
“If the men you’ve been playing with require you call them Sir after barely ten seconds of interaction, you’ve been hanging around the wrong people.”
She shrugged, her gaze dipping then just as quickly meeting his again.
“So, why are we having this conversation, Marcus?”
“I would like to play with you.”
Gabi quirked an eyebrow. “And you don’t want me to call you ‘Sir’?”
“Not yet.”
“Well, I’m done for today, so maybe next time,”
He grabbed her wrist. Her eyes blazed.
“Release me.”
“In a minute, kitten.”
“Don’t call me that. I didn’t give you the right.”
“Forgive me,” Marcus apologized. “You’re right.” He stepped into her personal space, forcing her to tilt her head to look at him even though she wasn’t much shorter. “You have to understand, Gabi, I don’t want to play with you right now. I want to get to know you a bit before I make you kneel at my feet, open up that pretty little mouth of yours and stuff it with my cock until you gag.”
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